Control of electrically operated hoists and winders



Sept. 14, 1954 .1. w. MULLIGAN ET AL 2,639,023

CONTROL OF ELECTRICALLY OPERATED HOISTS AND WINDERS Filed Nov. 4, 1952 s Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS ATTORNEYS Sept. 14, 19 4 J. w. MULLIGAN ET AL 2,639,023

CONTROL OF ELECTRICALLY OPERATED HOIS'lS AND WINDERS Filed Nov. 4, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 2.

INVENTORS ATTQRNEYS Sept. 14, 1954 Filed Nov. 4, 1952 J. W. MULLIGAN ET AL CONTROL OF ELECTRICALLY OPERATED HOISTS AND WINDERS V i4 h V L wwwl g g g 31:1; 5 l y L l. NM 27 J 1 J g E 1: 1:1:

:i K II jl' l I lNVENTORS ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 14, 1954 :rno s mares PATENT OFFICE CONTROL OF ELECTRICALLY OPERATED .HOISTS AND W'INDERS John Wesley 'Mulligan, Stretfor'd, and Owen Thomas Evans, Sale, England, assignors 'to vMetropolitan VickersElectrical- Company-Lim- :ited,:=London, England, a British company ApplicationNovember 4, 1952, Serial No. 318,602

G'Claims. .1 v "This invention *relates *to "the control, particudaily "thelbraking, :of electrically operated hoists rand winders. TItiis well' known to use 'aliquid controller for regulating: the speed 'of the alternating current electric driving motoriand'to introduce mechanism-even .:thongh .theiidriversicontrol lever iisat once-imovedgto 'theiful'ly on:position. A similar type of control is desirable when'braking,

rbut the:existingtypei'ofrservoimechanism cannot wbetuseidrunaltered ."for this purposexsince inthe [case .o-ftdynamic brakinggthewalue: of :resistance which. gives. maximum :brakingtorquevisnot constant but is .dependentonthezspeed'df'the driving :motor; sothat,.= if .duringbrakingzthe:servon mechanism merely; introduces the:lowerispeedxofzrnovel-ment .of :the controller when'iwthe latter reaches. .the positiona-givinga a: particular value of r resistance; the controL-duringibraking will become .less iandiesseffective theilowerrthe speed of the motor ,atiwhich-brakingaisrinitiated.

:In- :dynamic brakingpit f-lS'WVGHlkIIOWIl rthat ir- .-1:espective:-of :the speed of'pp'eration of the motor, maximum :bra'king torque sis always obtained when the currentfinttherroton (and correspondingly the stator) :reaches ;-substantia1ly.the same Maine. ,In accordance with ztheipresent invention, therefore, the :servo 'cmechanism .is controlled when braking so that its lower speed range of operation is introduced when :the 'ro-tor current (or 'correspondingly the stator current) reaches a predetermined value, which value is preferably vmaximum.braking.torque.

, In order that .Lthe .L invention :may .be clearly understood, it: willxnow be described with reference. to thewaccompanying drawings. in which 'Fig. 1 shows in'section the essentialparts of a -known'iformiof. servo-mechanism,

showsdiagrammaticallyone form of con- "trol-zsystem according to'the invention, and

:Figs. B and-4 show wiring diagrams ofalterna- :Ttrve :forms: of z a'zcontrol rcircuit.

3th?! e'k-nown iform of w fluid-operated servotmechanismshowntintFi'g.1,'=a11ever I effective to tcontrolithezzposition-p of? the electrodes ofaa liquid controller, is operated'by a pistonZ which is slidable on a hollow sleeve 3 within a cylinder 4 to one end of which oil under pressure is admitted 'through'a'portfi. The sleeve 3 which is movable with the drivers control lever by means of the leverS is formed with ports "I so disposed that pressure-"fluid inthe cylinder '4 will normally leak past thepiston-2 by way-of theports and through the hollow sleeve 3. When, howeven'the drivers lever is moved, these ports! will be closed by the sleeve'3'moving into the piston 2 and the pressure fluid will then "operateon'the piston to move it, and with itthe electrodes of the' liquid controller, until the ports l-are'again' uncovered, the-operation of the device being accordingly in the nature of a simple-positional control servo mechanism.

Means is providedwhich, at some point in the travelo f the piston 2 an'dsleevetduring driving,

causes an appreciable reduction to occur in'the effective'area of the passage through which the pressurefiuid' is supplied to the cylinder 4 so that when this occurs the piston "2 can only'be moved at a lower-speed.

These means comprise a further cylinder 8 which is provided with a hollow sleeve 9 having a port I l! through-which the pressure fluid flows to the interior ofthe sleeve and-thence through the port5 into the main cylinder ii. The sleeve is coupled'w-ith. the lever lby means of a link I i in such manner that when the'lever I has moved a certain distance the movement of the sleeve!) in the cylinder8 'causes'the port I0 to be closed, and the pressure fluid entering at. can then reach the main cylinder 4 only by wayof an adjustable orifice or metering valve 13. Under such conditions the rate of flow of the pressure fluid to the main cylinder 4 is very much reduced and accordingly the speedof movement of'thepiston 2'and'lever I is correspondingly decreased.

With this arrangement and when dynamic braking is in operation, the invention provides that the rate of flow of the pressure fluid to the main cylinder 4 and hence the speed of movement of the lever shall-be reduced when the current in the rotor of the driving motor attainsa predetermined value.

In one simple arrangement the valve comprising the sleeve and cylinder arrangement 8, 9 and the metering valve l3 are bypassed during dyna-mic braking by supplying-pressure fluid to the cylinder l, conveniently through the plug M which closes the end ofthe cylinder 8, through.

a pipe under-the control of a power operated valve. This valve,rwhich is arrangedr'to-be-closed .whenzdriving but open-whennbraking, isalsoso controlled that when braking it may be closed again when the rotor current reaches the predetermined value. In such arrangement it is assumed that when this occurs the position of the lever I will always be such that the port I in the sleeve and cylinder valve 8, 9 is closed so that the flow of pressure fluid will be restricted by the metering valve I3. The power operated valve is conveniently controlled electrically, for example as described below in connection with Fig. 3.

Fig. 2 shows a more elaborate arrangement for controlling the flow of the pressure fluid. In this case during driving the valve 16 is held open and the valve I1 is held closed so that the pressure fluid flows to the servo operating mechanism as described with reference to Fig. 1. When braking, the valve I3 is closed and the valve I! is opened The valve I8 is also normally open so that the pressure fluid instead of flowing through the pipe I 9 to the servo-mechanism and through the valve 9, 9 or the valve I3 thereof, flows through the pipe 20 and is introduced to the main cylinder 4 of the mechanism conveniently through the plug M as described above. The valve I9 is so controlled that it closes when the current in the rotor circuit of the motor exceeds a predetermined value, in which case the pressure fluid has to pass through a valve 2| which is adjustable to provide a controlled flow of the pressure fluid at a suitable low rate.

Control of the valves of this arrangement is conveniently effected by means of the circuit arrangement shown in Fig. 3. Here the left-hand portion shows part of a conventional dynamic braking control circuit, current transformers 23 connected in the leads between the motor 24 and the load resistance (liquid controller) 25 providing an output, rectified by the three-phase rectifier 23, which is proportional to the load current. The output is applied over terminals 21, e. g. to control in known manner the output of an exciter supplying direct current to the stator of the motor 24. For the purpose of this invention, a resistance 28 is included in this circuit and the winding of a relay 29 is connected in shunt therewith. This relay is so arranged that when the current in the rotor circuit of the motor 24 reaches the peak, or any other predetermined value, it closes its contacts 30 which are arranged in the control circuit shown in the right-hand portion of this figure. The closing of the contacts 30 energises the contactor 3| which in turn closes its contacts 32 to energise the motor 33 controlling the valve l8 (Fig. 2) Accordingly, during dynamic braking as soon as the load current exceeds the predetermined value, the valve I3 will be closed to restrict the rate of flow of pressure fluid to the servo mechanism to that determined by the setting of the valve 2| The contacts 34 of the control circuit are closed by the action of the driver in changing over from driving to braking, and in so doing, act to energise the motors 35 and 36 which control the valves l6 and II respectively, the motor 35 when energised operating to close the valve l6 and the motor 36 operating to open the valve l1.

Fig. 4 shows an alternative form of electric control circuit in which a transductor or magnetic amplifier is used. In this arrangement the rectified load current is caused to flow through the D. C. winding 38 of the transductor which is also provided with an A. C. winding 39 arranged in series with the control coil of the relay 29, and the usual bias winding 49 and feedback 4 winding 4 I. The direct current for the bias winding is shown as being obtained from a rectifier 42 connected across the A. C. supply to the control circuit but it may be obtained alternatively from a stabilised supply of direct current. The contacts 32 of the relay 29 control the motor 33 of the valve l8 as described above in connection with Figs. 2 and 3 and likewise the contacts 34 control the valves I6 and I1 Except for the use of the transductor, the arrangement of Fig. 4 is the same as that of Fig. 3, but the relay 29 may be much more robust in this later arrangement.

Inasmuch as during dynamic braking the stator current is a function of the rotor current, the relay 29 of Fig. 3 could equally well be energised through rectifier 26 associated through current transformers 23 with the stator circuit of the motor. Likewise, for the arrangement of Fig. 4, the D. C. winding 38 of the transductor could be arranged for energisation over rectifiers and current transformers associated with the stator circuit of the motor. Such energisation of the relay 29 (Figs. 3) or control winding 38 (Fig. 4) in accordance with the stator current will generally be more convenient.

Operation of the fluid valves 1'6, l1, and I8 of Fig. 2 is conveniently effected by means of solenoids, although other forms of electrically operated motorised valves may be used.

It will be appreciated that the particular form of servo mechanism described in connection with Fig. 1 is only given as an example to explain the operation of the invention, and that other suitable forms of position control servo mechanism may be used. In particular the return movement of the mechanism may be effected by gravity as in the described example or by pressure-operated means.

In each case the invention will ensure that when braking, even though the drivers lever is moved at once to the full on position, the mechanism will adjust the braking torque quickly to substantially the maximum value, whatever the speed of the winder or hoist may be, and will thereafter operate to vary this torque at a slower rate which may be substantially that which is required to maintain the desired torque as the winder or hoist slows down. Accordingly, the arrangement enables the driver to obtain complete control of the hoist and good manoeuvrability is afforded. In addition, suitable means may be provided which, when changing over from braking to driving, operate to remove the automatic control of the point at which the slower speed range of the servo mechanism is introduced and cause the slower speed range to be introduced at a particular value of the load resistance.

What we claim is:

1. A control system for electrically operated hoists and winders of the kind in which the speed of an alternating current driving motor is regulated by means of a liquid controller which is adjusted by positional control servo-mechanism in accordance with the setting of the driver's control lever, the servo-mechanism operating when driving to reduce the resistance of the controller rapidly to a value giving maximum driving torque and thereafter at a lower speed over the remaining part of the range, irrespective of the speed of movement of the driver's control lever, characterised by the provision of means for controlling the operation of the servo-mechanism in such manner that when braking the lower speed of operation is introduced when the rotor current (or the stator current) of the motor reaches a predetermined value.

2. A control system as claimed in claim 1, wherein means is provided for restricting the supply of pressure fluid to the servo-mechanism whenever the rotor (or stator) current reaches or exceeds the paid predetermined value.

3. A control system as claimed in claim 2,

' wherein the supply of pressure fluid is governed additional valve which is arranged to be closed when the rotor (or stator) current exceeds the said predetermined value.

5. A control system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the operation of the valves is effected by means of a relay which is operated from the rectified output of current transformers connected in the rotor (or stator) circuit of the motor.

6. A control system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the rectified output of current transformers arranged in the rotor (or stator) circuit is applied to a transductor or magnetic amplifier the output of which is arranged to operate the relay.

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,487,891 Pinto Nov. 15, 1949 

